Central Penn Art Guide | Family Kids Entertainment | Harrisburg Events

‘The Sear and the Yellow Leaf’ opens at HACC’s Fenêtre Gallery

CPAG — Fri, 17 May 2013 02:26:02 +0000

“The Sear and the Yellow Leaf,” work of local artist Amy LeFever, will be on exhibit at the Fenêtre Gallery at HACC’s Midtown 2 location from Friday, May 17 through Wednesday, June 12, 2013. A reception will be held for the artist Friday, May 17, 6-8 p.m., during 3^rd in the Burg.

LeFever’s inspiration for her work came from experiences while employed at the Ecumenical Community Retirement Home. LeFever led an art program that she developed – and earned national recognition for – in the dementia unit while maintaining her positions as personal care associate, medication technician and mentor.

“I work with the beauty, pain, suffering, anger and confusion that I am met with every day,” said LeFever, who titled her exhibit from a line in MacBeth, “I have lived long enough, my way of life is fall’n into the sear, the yellow leaf.”

LeFever earned her BFA from The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2008, after attending HACC. She is currently an adjunct faculty member at HACC, teaching ceramics while aiding in the design and production of ceramic ware in the art department and applying to graduate schools.

Fenêtre Gallery is on the second floor of HACC’s Midtown 2 at 1500 Third St. Entrance to the building is on Reily. The gallery is open on Wednesdays from 4-6 p.m. and the third Friday of the month, or by appointment. Events are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Kim Banister, gallery coordinator, at kebanist@hacc.edu or 717-780-2435.

Stuart Malina will be joined by his Harrisburg Symphony Friends again for Stuart and Friends

CPAG — Fri, 17 May 2013 02:17:01 +0000

Stuart and Friends

Tuesday, May 21, at 7:30 pm
Rose Lehrman Arts Center
$22, purchase online at HarrisburgSymphony.org or call the Harrisburg Symphony Box Office at 717-545-5527 Monday–Friday, 8:30am–4:30pm

Stuart & Friends, a chamber music concert with select “friends” from the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, will be presented on Tuesday, May 21st at 7:30 p.m. at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center.

“Stuart & Friends is a concert I do each year with members of the orchestra” says Maestro Stuart Malina. “It gives me a chance to work in a different way with the players and to give our audience members a more intimate and personal concert experience. I strive, as host, to keep the atmosphere relaxed, upbeat, and fun, while playing some beautiful music for them.”

The annual Stuart & Friends tradition continues as the Maestro takes to the piano to play with HSO musicians Peter Sirotin (Concertmaster), Nicole Sharlow (Principal Violin II), Julius Wirth (Principal Viola), and

Fiona Thompson (Principal Cello).

The Stuart & Friends program includes:

Ernest Bloch: From Jewish Life, Three Pieces for Cello & Piano

Mozart: Piano Quartet in Eb, K. 493

Arthur Foote: Piano Quintet in A Minor

“One lovely aspect of this concert is that it is sponsored by my friend Marilynn Kanenson in memory of her husband, Bill, who was president of the HSO’s Board of Directors for my third and fourth year here. He was my first friend in Harrisburg, and a dear man whom I miss very much. Marilynn’s support has allowed Stuart & Friends to grow and develop an audience.” says Malina.

Stuart and Friends is underwritten by Marilynn R. Kanenson in memory of Dr. William Kanenson.

As part of the Stuart & Friends concert, Marilynn R. Kanenson also sponsors a musical outreach to special needs students in the Harrisburg area. This year Stuart Malina performed an interactive concert with special needs students in the Harrisburg school district at Camp Curtin Elementary School. This was a great opportunity for students with disabilities (some multiple) in the Harrisburg School District to have up-close and personal interaction with Maestro Malina. Music can be such a great educational and expressionism tool for students who may have challenges in communicating… or they may excel in music when they may not scholastically or socially.

The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra presents Stuart & Friends at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21st, at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center, located at One HACC Drive (on the campus of Harrisburg Area Community College), Harrisburg, PA. Tickets for this performance are $22 and are available by online at www.HarrisburgSymhony.org or by calling the HSO office (717) 545-5527.

Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony to Bring 2012/13 Harrisburg Symphony Season to a Close

CPAG — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:10:59 +0000

Beethoven’s justly famed Pastoral Symphony, his Symphony No. 6, will bring the Harrisburg Symphony’s 2012-13 season to an eloquent close on May 18-19 at the Forum in Harrisburg. Music Director Stuart Malina will conduct. On the first half of the program, pianist Jeffrey Biegel will perform two pieces for piano and orchestra, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Millennium Fantasy and Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony was completed in 1808 and first performed along with the Fifth Symphony and the Fourth Piano Concerto at a famous concert in Vienna on December 22 of that year. Beethoven was a lover of nature and the outdoors and could often be seen taking walks in the woods on the outskirts of Vienna. The Sixth Symphony is one of the few examples in Beethoven’s output of music written with explicitly programmatic content. He was careful to attach a descriptive title to each of the five movements:

1.     Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the country

2.     Scene by the brook

3.     Happy gathering of country folk

4.     Storm

5.     Shepherds’ song; cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm

The Sixth Symphony is altogether different in mood and character from the abstract and stormy Fifth Symphony and is one of the most beloved symphonies in the repertoire.

Pianist Jeffrey Biegel has performed with the HSO on several occasions in recent seasons, most recently performing music by Chopin and Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake and Palmer fame) in October 2010. This time he brings music by the contemporary American composer, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and the great 19^th century virtuoso, Franz Liszt. Ms. Zwilich has the distinction of being the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music (in 1983 for her Symphony No. 1). She composed Her Millennium Fantasy in 2000 on a commission from Jeffrey Biegel, a project that involved twenty-seven orchestras around the U.S. Mr. Biegel performed the world premiere in 2000 with the Cincinnati Symphony and has since recorded the work.

Franz Liszt is generally considered to be the greatest pianist of the 19^th century and his many works for the instrument are central to the classical piano repertoire. His Piano Concerto No. 1 was composed over a period of several years and finally completed in 1849. Liszt himself gave the world premiere in the German city of Weimar in 1855. The work is in four movements, played without pause, and, like much of Liszt’s writing, contains passages that are alternately beautifully melodic and wildly virtuosic.

Tickets: $12, $25, $38, $49, $64. Call the Harrisburg Symphony Box Office at 717-545-5527
Monday–Friday, 8:30am–4:30pm, or purchase online at HarrisburgSymphony.org.

A FREE pre-concert lecture for all ticket-holders at 7 p.m. on Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday in Section 208 of the Forum will be given by the orchestra’s music director, Maestro Stuart Malina.

Support for these Pastoral Symphony performances comes from the Hall Foundation with additional funding from the Cultural Enrichment Fund and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

Harrisburg Shakespeare Company to Present 20th Annual Free Shakespeare in the Park: Measure for Measure

CPAG — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:54:42 +0000

Harrisburg Shakespeare Company is celebrating its twentieth year performing in Reservoir Park, and is bringing to the stage William Shakespeare’s MEASURE FOR MEASURE. Performances will be held at the Levitt Pavilion in Reservoir Park, Harrisburg, May 31-June 1, June 5-8, and 12-15 at 7:30 p.m.Harrisburg Shakespeare Company is proud to have been producing free live entertainment in Reservoir Park for the past twenty years. Their first production was A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM in 1994 and they’ve been producing successfully ever since. They have received some grants and sponsorships over the years to assist in offering this free program, but the best support comes from the community. Audience members range from people in the surrounding neighborhoods, locals, and even folks that travel the country viewing as many Shakespeare in the Park’s that they can find. HSC has entertained over 43,000 patrons in the park over the past 20 years and are looking forward to welcoming 43,000 more.

“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall…” – Act II, scene i

Shakespeare shows us a disturbing world where love forbidden by the state is punishable by death, where redress of wrongs is only possible through coercive action and bribery, and where abuse of power is the order of the day. Put in other words: This is a timeless yet contemporary story of society not as we might wish it to be, but as it often actually is. An intriguing, challenging, and very dark comedy, Measure for Measure delves into a society’s often hypocritical attitudes toward love, personal fidelity, and marriage.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE has been known as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays” as it fits neither as a “comedy” nor a “tragedy”. The themes in problem plays usually speak on social issues that would’ve been relevant at the time the play was written, although it usually can be connected to current issues in the world today, which is why “problem plays” have also been known as some of the most fascinating and exciting.

Artistic Director, J. Clark Nicholson, will be directing the production this year. He notes that MEASURE FOR MEASURE is a very contemporary story, “It is about people standing on high moral ground to gain an office, and after they have the power of the office they abuse the power by doing immoral things.”

MEASURE FOR MEASURE will be presented at the Levitt Pavilion in Reservoir Park from May 31 through June 15 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30pm. Admission is FREE.

Art Association of Harrisburg (AAH) to Present Five Summer Soirees

CPAG — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:44:41 +0000

The Art Association of Harrisburg will present five Soirees this summer at a variety of patrons’ homes, all featuring eclectic artwork by AAH artists, lovely hors d’ouevres and beverages, and some with live music as well. All Soirees are presented on Saturday evenings from 5 to 8 PM, with reservations @ $40 in advance and $45 at the door. All proceeds benefit the Association’s cultural programs.

“Tourette,” a handsome Norman Revival home in Bellevue Park, will be the site of the first Soiree, hosted by Donna and David Dwyer on June 15. The house at 2301 Bellevue Road was built by L.B.Nye between 1931 and 1936 to mimick a small French chateau, complete with an entry through a two-storey tower. Featured artists will be Joseph Vene, Kimberly Plank, Sharon Jones, Stephen Wetzel, John Holtzman, Tanade Suveepattananont, and Jonathan Frazier.

Nathan Hench, Ron Wetzel and David Volkman will co-host the second Soiree on July 13 at the Hench home at 1104 Green Street, Harrisburg, with most of the activity taking place in the garden owned by Charles Puguese and David Hoffman at 228 Herr Street. The Hench home is one of a five-unit Mediterranean-style row home, designed by Harrisburg’s prominent architect Charles Howard Lloyd, with an interior contemporary ambiance. The garden is in a beautiful French style. Featured artists will include Paul Flury, Paul Gallo, Mark Allison and Keith Leitner, with architectural images, landscapes, and abstracts.

Mark Allison and Erin Mengel will host the next Soiree on August 3 at their home at 535 Harding Street in New Cumberland, a traditional 1940’s brick house with an eclectic modern interior and a charming patio and garden. Artists will be oil painters Kelly McGee and Julie Ober, and photographer Lori Snyder, with images of trees, suburbia and landscapes.

Bob Lomison’s and Tanade Suveepattananont’s 1960-era contemporary home at 96 Carol Street, New Cumberland, will be the site for the August 10 Soiree, with varied works by seven artists on view in the tennis court area and by the pool. Artists will be Tanade Suveepattananont, Martin Velez, Joseph Dudding, Jack Kemp, Carrie Wissler-Thomas, Chelsea Caroline, and Kristen Kest, with styles ranging from figurative works and portraits, to landscapes, abstracts and Pop Art. The event will be enhanced by the music of Jonathan Frazier.

Culminating the series will be “A Picnic in Tuscany” hosted by Tracey Meloni on August 24 at her home at 1623 Berkshire Lane, Harrisburg. Tracey Meloni’s lovely Tuscan-villa-like house and garden will be graced by Jeff Wiles’ photography, Bryan Molloy’s Boston Impressionist oil paintings, Michael Peluso’s hand-blown glass, and Barbara Gutekunst’s hand-made jewelry. Jazz by Katie Rudolph and Jim Miller, along with Italian hors d’ouevres, Bellinis and wines will complete the ambiance.

VIST WWW.ARTASSOCOFHBG.COM OR CALL 717-236-1432 FOR RESERVATIONS. Proceeds from the Soirees benefit the Art Association of Harrisburg’s education and exhibition programs. NOTE: For those paying with a CHECK OR CASH for three Soirees, a special price of $100 will apply, a savings of $20.

Open Stage of Harrisburg Announces Season 28!

CPAG — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:35:44 +0000

Subscriptions on sale now! See all four thought-provoking plays for only $90 – That’s like seeing one show free. Single tickets for GIDION’S KNOT go on sale in August.

Oct 2013 – GIDION’S KNOT

by Johnna Adams

October 4-26, 2013

Over the course of a 90-minute parent/teacher conference, a grieving mother and an emotionally overwhelmed primary school teacher have a fraught conversation about the tragic suicide of the mother’s son, the teacher’s student, Gidion. Gidion may have been bullied severely — or he may have been an abuser. As his story is slowly uncovered, the women try to reconstruct a satisfying explanation for Gidion’s act and come to terms with excruciating feelings of culpability.

“Gidion’s Knot, unlike the legendary knot suggested by its name, is raveled so delicately that to unspool a single thread endangers the revelation of the entire piece.” - DCtheatrescene.com

Adams does not spare sensitivities and her play is uncomfortable and shattering. This is a play that runs its course like an rabid dog that won’t let go.

Subscriptions on sale now! See all four thought-provoking plays for only $90 – That’s like seeing one show free. Single tickets for A CHRISTMAS MEMORY go on sale in October.

Nov/Dec 2013 – A CHRISTMAS MEMORY

A New Musical

Based on the short story by Truman Capote

Book by Duane Poole
Music by Larry Grossman
Lyrics by Carol Hall

November 29 – December 29, 2013

An evocative musical memoir of tradition, adventure, and family. In rural Alabama, 1933, young Buddy is being raised by three eccentric cousins. He is closest to his Cousin Sook, still a child herself in many ways — and as Christmas nears, she and Buddy gather ingredients to bake holiday gifts for those who’ve had a memorable impact on their lives in the past year.

“Oh, my, it’s fruitcake weather!” Following the comic adventures of the two misfit soulmates, the show celebrates the simple pleasures of life and the joy of giving – a festive, emotional story that reminds us what traditions, family and friendship are all about.

Subscriptions on sale now! See all four thought-provoking plays for only $90 – That’s like seeing one show free. Single tickets for August Wilson’s FENCES go on sale in October.

Feb 2014 – August Wilson’s FENCES

February 7 – March 1, 2014
Troy Maxson is a former star of the Negro baseball leagues who now supports his family as a sanitation worker in 1957 Pittsburgh. Excluded as a black man from the major leagues during his prime, Troy’s bitterness takes its toll on his relationships with his wife and his son, who now wants his own chance to play ball.

Denzel Washington, James Earl Jones, and Viola Davis won Tony Awards for their performances in this Pulitzer Prize-Winning drama.

Subscriptions on sale now! See all four thought-provoking plays for only $90 – That’s like seeing one show free. Single tickets for CLYBOURNE PARK go on sale in October.

Apr 2014 – CLYBOURNE PARK

by Bruce Norris

April 11 – May 3, 2014

On two separate afternoons, 50 years apart, a modest bungalow on Chicago’s northwest side becomes a contested site in the politics of race

September 1959: Russ and Bev are moving out to the suburbs. They’ve inadvertently sold the house to the neighborhood’s first black family and ignited a community showdown.

September 2009: the neighborhood is ripe for gentrification and the house is again changing hands. This time to a young white couple with plans for demolition and a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

In a provocative nod to A Raisin in the Sun, Pulitzer Prize winner Bruce Norris examines what happens when home becomes a battleground.

Red Molly

CPAG — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:52:29 +0000

Sunday, May 19, 2013
Matinée Concert 4:00 pm
at the Appalachian Brewing Company

“Everything Red Molly sings is delivered with tick-tight arrangements, crystalline vocals, and caramel harmonies. But what is most striking is the ardor they bring to everything they do, whether snuggling into the sweet parochialism of an old spiritual, or the gritty pathos of a Gillian Welch tune. They come on less like stars strutting for their minions than pals sharing their favorite songs. In the friendly world of the coffeehouse, that remains a starmaking quality.” — Scott Alarik, The Boston Globe

We’re thrilled to welcome Americana/Roots trio Red Molly back to Central PA. They have a new member (Molly Venter), a new CD (Light in the Sky), and the same fresh, inventive, joyous feel that has won over audiences across the country.

4:00pm Matinée

Appalachian Brewing Company
50 N Cameron St
Harrisburg, PA 17101

Tickets:

$20 General Admission
$16 SFMS Members
$10 Students (ages 3 to 22)

April Verch Band

CPAG — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:17:17 +0000

on WITF’s Center Stage!
Saturday, May 18, 2013, 8 pm

Internationally renowned Canadian fiddler, singer, songwriter and stepdancer April Verch brought her band to Harrisburg for a Susquehanna Folk Music Society concert in January of 2013. The concert was recorded and will be broadcast next weekend on Center Stage!

The new, expanded version of Center Stage features folk, rock, jazz and indie music on Saturday evenings and classical concerts on Sunday evenings.

SFMS is proud to be part of this venture. More SFMS concerts are on the way — our concerts with Le Vent du Nord and The Teetotallers will also be broadcast on Center Stage! They will be re-broadcasting concerts as well, so if you missed their airing of our Darrell Scott concert (recorded in September 2012), keep an eye on the schedule for a reprise.

Early Modern Prints at HACC’s Rose Lehrman Art Gallery

CPAG — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:07:04 +0000

Early Modern Prints from the Gminder Collection will be on display in the Rose Lehrman Art Gallery on the Harrisburg Campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College from Monday, May 29 through Thursday, June 27, 2013.

The collection is on loan from the Gminder family. Eliot Gminder has a background in philosophy, teaches part time at the Gettysburg Campus of HACC and has been collecting art for more than a decade.

“They (the artists) broke from the High Renaissance art that was so perfect, and tried to make art that wasn’t about recreating ‘perfection,’ but was the artist’s impression of what they saw beyond perfection,” Gminder explained.

The late 1800s through the early 1900s was a tumultuous time in the European art world. The Gminder collection reflects the changes of the period and the progression of art movements such as Impressionism, Cubism and Surrealism.

The collection includes a study for Guernica by Pablo Picasso and a pastel of bathers by Edgar Degas. Other noteworthy artists in the collection include Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissaro and Paul Signac.

Summer gallery hours are 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Thursday, or by appointment.

The Rose Lehrman Art Gallery receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Visit the gallery on HACC’s website at www.hacc.edu under the Rose Lehrman Arts Center and on Facebook.

For more information, contact Kim Banister, gallery curator, at 717-780-2435 or email kebanist@hacc.edu.

Das Boot Presented by Lower Paxton Council for the Arts

CPAG — Sun, 12 May 2013 12:21:02 +0000

From a time when U-boats prowled the east coast of the United States: the acclaimed 1981 German masterpiece

Directed by Wolfgang Peterson and based upon the memoir by Lothar Gunther Bucheim

7:00pm Friday, May 31^st, at The Friendship Center*

The movie will be introduced and placed in context by retired military officer and artist/historian David Russell. Free admission with snacks provided.

Presented by Lower Paxton Council for the Arts

*Lower Paxton Friendship Center, 5000 Commons Dr., Harrisburg, PA 17112 717-657-5635